With the advent of increased fuel economy and reduced emissions requirements imposed by the government, various fuel systems have been developed to precisely control the amount of fuel that is injected during the injection events of a combustion cycle. In particular, high pressure fuel injection systems have been developed which provide increased control of the fuel injected by the fuel injectors of an internal combustion engine in comparison to conventional fuel injection systems.
Such high pressure fuel injection systems typically utilize at least one high pressure pump that pressurizes the fuel to be injected by the fuel injectors. Fuel systems may utilize a plurality of such pressure pumps corresponding to the number of fuel injectors, each of the pumps providing highly pressurized fuel to a fuel injector. Other fuel systems utilize fewer high pressure pumps in conjunction with a high pressure common rail. In such implementations, one or more high pressure pumps are connected to the high pressure common rail to thereby provide highly pressurized fuel to the common rail. The common rail then distributes the pressurized fuel to each of the fuel injectors.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,968 issued to Hankins et al. discloses an injection system including a fuel rail. A fuel supply is delivered to the fuel rail by a fuel pump. The fuel is further dispersed via a plurality of fuel injectors coupled to the fuel rail. However, the injection system of Hankins et al. may generate undesirable effects within the fuel line or fuel system components as a result of fuel displacement within the injection system. Such effects may occur as fuel flows throughout the fuel injection system, for example, as a result of being induced by a fuel pump. One undesirable effect may include the production of cavitation, i.e., the formation of microscopic bubbles dispersed throughout the fuel within the fuel injection system. Collapse of the cavitation bubbles focuses liquid energy to very small volumes. As a result, spots of high temperature are created and shock waves are emitted against surfaces in close proximity. The effects of cavitation can cause damage or failure to components within the fuel injection system and reduce the service life of fuel injection equipment. These components may include, for example, valves and valve seats, fuel lines, and seals. Additionally, damage due to cavitation may alter the flow characteristics of control orifices within the fueling system and even the injector nozzle orifices which may result in altering the fuel mixture and/or emissions characteristics of the fuel system over time.
The present disclosure is directed towards overcoming one or more shortcomings set forth above.